Here are my parts from PC Part Picker, I have done a lot of research and I think this is essentially my dream computer with a ~$1500 budget. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bwB6
There is one thing I would change, which was the H100 to the Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme (W20E), since I hear it is better, but they don't have it on the site.
I plan on building this for gaming (or school haha) in early September. As of right now, I will only be playing at a resolution of 1920x1080, as I will be using my Plasma TV.
I would like your opinions and recommendations, I do plan to OC and eventually add a second SSD and graphics card, another 2 slots of ram, and more fans (maybe even upgrade to custom water cooling if I feel confident enough).
Let me explain my choices however.
Intel i5 3570k: Ivy Bridge is fully compatible with PCI 3.0, I know we aren't even close to maxing PCI 2.1, but I wanted to somewhat future proof it.
H100 or W20E: Ivy Bridge runs hot, especially if OC'ing, and I'm not confident in my ability to build a custom water cooling system, especially on my first build.
Zotac GTX 670: Tom's hardware review, it was the strongest of the cards. Can't really justify the $100 more at this time, but I can be persuaded if there are relevant deals or if the price will drop enough by September.
Asus P8Z77-V Pro: PCI 3.0, wifi, 4 ram slots, usb 3.0. I know wifi and gaming, bad blah blah. My dorm doesn't have any ethernet ports, just wifi.
Corsair Vengeance: It seems reliable and well recommended. Good speeds, relatively good cost.
Optical Drive: Don't need blu ray, got a ps3. DVD burner it is.
Cooler Master Haf 942 X: Big enough for later upgrades, like the design and sheer amount of fans. Comes with 4, can easily add another 4 (including H100 or W20E) in case I decided to OC anything besides CPU.
PSU: I know it seems big, but I used newegg's psu calculator for my potential upgrades in the future. That included an extra ssd, 4x4gb ddr3 ram, and a second gtx 680 (they didn't have 670) and I wanted to leave room to OC everything, just in case.
So...I think that's it? Please tell me what you think! I'd love to hear your opinions and recommendations. I feel like everything's as perfect as I can afford. Sure I'd like a 680 or 690, but I need to be realistic.
Another quick question, can the HDMI's on the back of the 670 output sound on the same cable?
I also have a post on another forum here about Air Flow, any help would be appreciated!
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277136-29-flow-suggestions#t1992269
There is one thing I would change, which was the H100 to the Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme (W20E), since I hear it is better, but they don't have it on the site.
I plan on building this for gaming (or school haha) in early September. As of right now, I will only be playing at a resolution of 1920x1080, as I will be using my Plasma TV.
I would like your opinions and recommendations, I do plan to OC and eventually add a second SSD and graphics card, another 2 slots of ram, and more fans (maybe even upgrade to custom water cooling if I feel confident enough).
Let me explain my choices however.
Intel i5 3570k: Ivy Bridge is fully compatible with PCI 3.0, I know we aren't even close to maxing PCI 2.1, but I wanted to somewhat future proof it.
H100 or W20E: Ivy Bridge runs hot, especially if OC'ing, and I'm not confident in my ability to build a custom water cooling system, especially on my first build.
Zotac GTX 670: Tom's hardware review, it was the strongest of the cards. Can't really justify the $100 more at this time, but I can be persuaded if there are relevant deals or if the price will drop enough by September.
Asus P8Z77-V Pro: PCI 3.0, wifi, 4 ram slots, usb 3.0. I know wifi and gaming, bad blah blah. My dorm doesn't have any ethernet ports, just wifi.
Corsair Vengeance: It seems reliable and well recommended. Good speeds, relatively good cost.
Optical Drive: Don't need blu ray, got a ps3. DVD burner it is.
Cooler Master Haf 942 X: Big enough for later upgrades, like the design and sheer amount of fans. Comes with 4, can easily add another 4 (including H100 or W20E) in case I decided to OC anything besides CPU.
PSU: I know it seems big, but I used newegg's psu calculator for my potential upgrades in the future. That included an extra ssd, 4x4gb ddr3 ram, and a second gtx 680 (they didn't have 670) and I wanted to leave room to OC everything, just in case.
So...I think that's it? Please tell me what you think! I'd love to hear your opinions and recommendations. I feel like everything's as perfect as I can afford. Sure I'd like a 680 or 690, but I need to be realistic.
Another quick question, can the HDMI's on the back of the 670 output sound on the same cable?
I also have a post on another forum here about Air Flow, any help would be appreciated!
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277136-29-flow-suggestions#t1992269